Coattails of the Saint
A collection of poems which chase after the coattails of sanctity, in this world with its “meanings set up as images” (a Sufi …
Saints / Awliyya
An Orange Sunset Sits on a Blue Horizon
Laughing Buddha sits down with Weeping Sufi and they sing a song together that sets …
On the Road to Konya
Sometimes I get tired of all this talk about God and I just want to go and sit under a tree but then the…
Saintly Places
We need to stand in saintly places the way our body needs food to not topple over We need to go there and find…
The Path
You start early you’re nobody’s fool You set out on foot no snow will stop you Shapes in the mist statues of warriors Arms…
Sphere of Light
Waiting fifteen minutes to Fajr Prayer just this side of the end of the world kaleidoscoping inward toward us all escalators a…
Nighttime Sessions of Light
for Baji (who heard the geese overhead calling out: Allah! Allah!) Intense nighttime sessions of Light spangle the planetary a…
Leave the World Alone
Sumptuous Juggler God Coy Beloved Elusive Letter-writer from a distant land beyond moonbeams and tides though You send them to…
Five Short Meditations on the Virgin Mary
(Note: This poem was commissioned by Abdal-Hakim Murad for his essay appearing in th…
These Faces of Ours
Everyone walks around with faces of lovers of God, everyone, young, old, grumpy, delighted, enraged, empurpled with rage, redd…
With the Saint at the Window / A wali’s passing
In 2014, a great wali (saint) of the Moroccan desert died, at a very advanced age, …
The Rowers
The rowers of the big boats had no letup The trapeze artist has to catch his mate for once in midair it’s too late…